


At Your Fingertips

by ExAstrisScientia, MiliusPrime



Category: Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Inquisition, MGiT - Fandom, Modern Girl in Thedas - Fandom
Genre: Modern Character in Thedas, Modern Girl in Thedas
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-31
Updated: 2019-02-17
Packaged: 2019-10-01 17:02:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,291
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17248043
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ExAstrisScientia/pseuds/ExAstrisScientia, https://archiveofourown.org/users/MiliusPrime/pseuds/MiliusPrime
Summary: As a player of Dragon Age, you have the power to change the world at your fingertips - the very click of your mouse could mean life or death, for hundreds. Two young friends are inexplicably thrust into the fantasy world of Thedas with little more than the clothes on their backs - but the knowledge of Gods. Their first challenge is to survive... but what they choose to do after that may very well change the world. Or end it.





	1. Graceful Landing

**Author's Note:**

> Renee and Emily "arrive" in Thedas. They're shook af.

 

“Finally, done!” Exclaimed a young woman sitting at a desk.

Before her on a short table lay a black tablet and keyboard, lit up green by a large monitor, a smaller monitor glowed dimmer at its side. The green glow came from the picture displayed there, a digital painting of a fantasy landscape with dramatic magic visual glowing effects.  

“Emily is gonna flip when she sees this, my latest masterpiece.” She said with a self-satisfied grin, clicking open discord on her computer to message her friend.

 

_Hey Emily, remember that digital painting of the squad closing a rift near Haven I said I was working on?_

 

_Yeah, I do!_

 

_I finished it. Wanna see?_

 

_Aslkjalkfhalkdjas YES!!_

 

She sent the file over with a click and leaned forward, resting her chin on her hand with a smug smile as she waited for her friend’s reaction.

 

_Oh my gosh!!! It’s so good! Is this Haven??_

 

_Yeah, just outside the town there was a really pretty place I saw while exploring in game and had to take a screenshot. And then I thought I should get some scenery painting practice in since I like, only ever draw people._

 

_Renée. Is that… us?_

 

The scene depicted two young women preparing for battle, one with a bow drawn, the other crouched with a dagger that glinted in both hands, both cast in a green glow from a large glowing green object in the air nearby.

 

_LOL yeah, I couldn’t resist adding some people after all, but thought I should still try to keep it ambiguously original and not obviously dragon age so that I can use it in a future portfolio if necessary._

 

_It’s great!! I love it! You really nailed the magic effects on the rift, it looks exactly like in game._

 

_Thanks! I’m glad you like it! And yeah, you don’t even want to know how long I spent on this thing._

 

Renée looked back over at the big screen, at the rift in question. She’d very closely followed a reference to paint it, wanting to really push herself in terms of realism. Her favorite part had been making the glowing green tendrils, admiring the way they arced out almost gracefully from the center of the rift. She felt herself being drawn in by the way they flowed, imagining them moving, swaying hypnotically…

 

She found herself unable to look away, and somehow, she looked _through_ it. Intrigued, she leaned forward. That proved to be a mistake, as she misjudged her balance and stumbled toward the screen, screwing her eyes shut instinctively for impact.

 

Impact never came. Instead, a lurching, weightless feeling blossomed in her stomach and she immediately opened her eyes as she fell letting out a frightened scream. Her surroundings were so bright however, that she was forced to close them again. A swell of nausea rose as she tumbled through air and she couldn’t stand the assault on her senses anymore, promptly blacking out.

  


Renée awoke to a cold hard object pressing into her side, groaning, she hauled herself into sitting position, keeping her eyes closed for a moment until the nausea abated.

 

“ _Huh?_ ”

 

She was sitting on the dark wooden floor in a strange room she didn’t recognize - certainly not her own - a desk covered in papers and books shoved against the wall, a couple of small paintings of what looked like renaissance portraits scantily adorned a couple of the walls, and a small battered window that was currently letting in chillingly cold air. Visible through the window, a tree, possibly pine, covered in snow. But most importantly, not more than 5 feet in front of her, an unconscious young woman.

 

Renée’s eyes bugged. And she immediately scrambled back.

 

“What… the hell?” Had she been struck behind and kidnapped and taken here, along with this other young woman? Her heart began to pound in fear. Was she going to be killed? Or worse…?

 

She’d better get out of here before whoever owned the place came back. She hastily scrambled to her feet, tripping against something on the floor behind her and banging into the wall painfully with a loud thump.

 

“Ow!” She looked behind her to see what she had tripped on and was briefly overjoyed to discover her backpack - before movement caught her eye and her head immediately snapped back up.

 

Seems she’d woken the other young woman, who she was relieved to see had truly just been unconscious - and not dead - who got up slowly with a groan and cast about her surroundings, observing them with the same amount of confusion Renée had earlier.

 

They both gasped as they met each other’s eyes.

 

She knew this person!! At least… she was pretty sure. They’d never met in real life but…

 

“...Emily?”

 

“Renée?!?”

 

“What are you doing here? Where are we?”

 

“I don’t know!” She exclaimed, distress taking over her fair face and giving it a paler sheen. “The last thing I remember was looking at your painting on my computer and then feeling strange and then… nothing, until I woke up here.”

 

“Okaaaay, that’s _really_ weird, because the same thing happened to me. Do you think we were kidnapped? But…” How could that be? At the same time, in two different places across the world, in the exact same setting? Even if they’d both had the misfortune of someone breaking into their dorms with the same intent of kidnapping, the odds of it being the two of them were just too great. Not to mention, neither of them were tied up, and there was no sign of anyone nearby… and her bag…

 

Renée rushed to the window, grimacing at the biting cold of the air as she shoved the half-broken thing outward. She felt Emily join her at her side.

 

They took in their surroundings - they were in what looked like an old wooden cabin or shack of some sort, and outside them lay what looked like 2-3 inches of snow covering everything like a white blanket, sloping downward gently, and beyond that a wood of pine trees. They were on a hill, she realized, and she could just barely see what looked like a frozen lake through the trees. Though she could recognize everything she saw, at the same time, there was a completely foreign quality to everything that she couldn’t place. The only thing she was sure of was that she’d never been here before… and that she had no idea where they were either.

 

With a sigh, she moved over to where her bag lay on the floor. It was a stroke of luck that whoever or whatever had taken them here had brought this with her. She’d had it on the floor by her feet, having gotten home from winter vacation so recently that she hadn’t unpacked yet. She heaved a sigh of relief as she spotted her phone, immediately pulling it out and turning it on.

 

No service, and no internet either. Of course. Figures considering the snow and wilderness they had observed around them. But it was still a big comfort, to have it in her hand. She checked her bag, another stroke of luck, charger cord and solar powered charger she’d gotten for Christmas were still in there, along with some clothes, toiletries, and her wallet.

 

“Renée.” She looked up from her bag at the call, alarmed at her friend’s tone of voice, and followed where she’d heard Emily’s call come from - another room.

 

Emily stood in front of a desk, a large map taking up the majority of it. More notably, above it posted on the wall right above the desk was a painting.

 

It looked almost identical to hers, but printed on paper that looked to be many years old, yellowing and frayed at the edges. But there was no mistaking the scene. She felt a cold pit form in her stomach.

 

“Look at this map.” Emily pointed at the map that lay on the desk. “It’s…” She trailed off, biting her lip.

 

Renée looked at the map, studying it for a moment. She studied it for a moment, perplexed at the strange writing - it was english, but very strange, old english. The names of the places were immediately familiar however, and as her eyes swept across the drawings on the map she realized she recognized it. She turned to Emily.

 

“This is Thedas.”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“This is _Thedas_ . This is a _map_ of _Thedas_. And… my painting…?”

 

They stared at each other for a moment, dumbfounded. Emily hesitantly spoke.

 

“You don’t think we could’ve…”

 

“No that’s impossible. ...Right?”

 

“But the painting… and the map!”

 

Renée had no counter to that. It wasn’t possible. Magic didn’t exist in real life, so there was no way that they could have possibly ended up….

 

In Dragon Age?

  
\-----

 

“Ohhhhh no. Ohhh no.” Renée held her head as her mind began spinning. Emily was silent but similarly distressed as she began pacing the room, tugging at a strand of frizzy hair and worrying her lip as she fretted.

 

Somehow, they had ended up in Dragon Age. From the looks of it, in Haven. Renée wasn’t sure how it was possible. She glanced at the door warily, expecting someone to burst in and exclaim “Hah! Got you!!” and explain how they set up such an elaborate prank. But to her disappointment, nobody came. She closed her eyes and swallowed thickly for a moment, doing her best to shove down the panic. She needed to figure out what to do.

 

First things first, were they injured? Aside from stiff sore muscles from laying on the floor for who knows how long, she didn’t feel any pain anywhere.

 

“Emily, are you hurt anywhere?”

 

“Huh? Oh no, I’m fine.”

 

Good. That meant neither of them were in danger of dying this minute. Then something struck her.

 

“Emily. Are my ears normal?”

 

“Uh, I think so. What would be abnormal..?”

 

“Okay good.” She laughed at her own panicked ridiculousness. “My ears are naturally a little pointy and I wanted to make sure I was still… human.” As much of an avid elf supporter she was in game, she did _not_ want to experience the hardships this world had to offer them herself.

 

Speaking of hardships, they would need to quickly find food and hopefully safer shelter than this old wooden structure. That meant interacting with people… people who’d ask questions like “who are you” and “where are you from?” That meant they needed to be prepared to answer those questions. Apparently Emily’s train of thought had gone down a similar path.

 

“We won’t be able to disguise ourselves as anything less than coming from minor nobility.” Emily was looking down at her hands. “We’re too soft. It will be painfully obvious we haven’t worked outside on a farm or spent our days washing dishes. No calluses…”

 

“No muscles.” Renée added, looking down at herself sadly. “No combat skills either… shit.”

 

“Yeah. That’s not good.” They both grimaced as they recalled the monstrosities that existed in this world, as well as the violent people they knew of as well.

 

“Worst of all I think,” Renée said, getting up and starting to look for something to wear out in the cold, “Is that we have no family. No connections. That’s going to draw a lot of suspicion.”

 

She was briefly elated to discover a closet, with a couple of coats hanging in it. Partially moth eaten and dusty, but big and bulky and made out of what looked like wool. She picked out the smaller of the two, being slightly shorter than her companion, and held the other out to Emily.

 

“We’re going to have to make something up.” Emily said. Renee could tell from the look in her friend’s eyes that her creative mind was already working on spinning up something worthy of her usual caliber - Emily loved to write, and did so often. Renée preferred to draw and paint, but occasionally would join her friend on a collaborative piece when she felt inspired to.

 

“What do you have in mind?”

 

“Well,” Emily started, dusting off the coat before putting it on, “Remember when we were talking about what we would be if we lived in Thedas?”

 

Renée did remember, they’d had a conversation quite some time ago, in the middle of a bigger one loosely about Dragon Age things, about who they would be if they were NPCs in Dragon Age. She said she would have been a young Orlesian painter, the daughter of a family well enough off to entertain the interests of their daughter and not put on the pressure for her to quickly wed. Emily would have been a free-marcher scholar studying astronomy, and an independent novelist, making her means working as a cartographer.

 

“Good idea! Some of it won’t be usable, but it’s more than a good start.” Renée said as she walked back to the other room, Emily trailing behind her thoughtfully, to pick up her bag. There were a couple chairs next to a fireplace. She crouched down next to it to try and start a fire as they contemplated.

 

“We could say we’re cousins, and that our family are nomads that were attacked and we fled to seek help from relatives attending the Conclave. Their unfortunate perishing rendering us orphans.”

 

“That would explain our background being untraceable, and might buy us some time to figure out the names of a family that died there - people won’t press us for details right away if they think we’re saddened by the loss. But,” Something occurred to her, “We know where we are - soft of. But we don’t actually know _when_ we are.”

 

“I know an easy way to find out.” Emily said, and then to Renée’s astonishment, the other girl opened the door and went outside.

 

“ _Wait!_ ” She called, abandoning her work with the fireplace and rushing outside after her, “We don’t know if the area is…”

 

“...Safe.” Above them, high in the sky, was the unmistakable Breach. It was not exactly how it had been in game. It was terrifying. The sky around it seemed to crack and tear, and the eerie green light lit up the surrounding clouds, reminding her of how it was right before a tornado. She was certainly filled with the same amount of panic.

 

A tear rolled down her cheek.

 

“This is real, isn’t it.”

 

“It’s real.” Emily whispered from beside her, face white as a sheet.

 

They stood for a moment in grim silence before Renée heaved a deep breath.

 

“We’d better get back inside.” The two of them quickly went back in and shut the door, locking it behind them.

 

They spent the next couple hours going over their story and what their plan of action was. Scouring the cabin, they were able to locate some supplies, as well as a leather bag for Emily to use. Unfortunately, nothing of hers had come through with her. They got a fire going, and found some canteens filled with water that seemed safe to drink. The best thing they found however, was a couple of coins underneath a dresser. Neither of them had previously owned any Thedas money, and the credit cards in Renée’s wallet were certainly going to be of no help here. Both of them had no clue what the coins were or how much, but it was certainly better than nothing. They briefly considered taking a couple of knives they found with them as weapons - but decided against it as neither of them had any training using them and wouldn’t want to appear threatening or suspicious for having weapons if they were to encounter someone.

 

After getting all of that together, they were ready to head out and try to find Haven. They’d only have a few hours to do so before dark. Renée tried not to think about that. She grabbed a long stick as they walked out the door, intending to trail it beside her as they walked, leaving them something to follow back to the cabin if their efforts were unsuccessful. Providing it didn’t get windy or start to snow.

 

They set off towards the Lake, intending to follow the coastline until they reached civilization - hopefully, Haven - pointedly avoiding looking up at the Breach, but looking everywhere else cautiously, and behind them so often their necks started to ache.

  
  



	2. Cherry Tart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Emily and Renée arrive in Haven and join the Inquisition. They meet some people they recognize, and make their first friend.

 

 

Emily and Renée arrived at the outskirts of Haven in what couldn’t have been more than fifteen minutes. It was a lot bigger than they remembered it in game, but that was created by 3D modelers with a time limit and a budget. This was reality. Renée found herself hoping not much else was different, and tried to look inconspicuous as she and Emily walked past the training grounds and into the gates.

 

Thankfully, they weren’t the only new people arriving in Haven; a line of people in varying states of health and appearance had formed around a person in an Inquisition green uniform holding a clipboard-like contraption who seemed to be in charge of coordinating and managing newcomers. The two young women joined the line.

 

When it came their turn, Renée and Emily glanced at each other, and Emily nodded and stepped forward to speak with the coordinator, a stern faced older woman with ginger hair and a face full of freckles.

 

“I’m Threnn, quartermaster for the Inquisition here. Names?”

 

Renée stared - this was Threnn? She supposed she didn’t really look all that closely at Threnn’s face before, having been more preoccupied with looking at the requisitions table whenever she’d come by in game. The accent was spot on though. She briefly glanced over at the adjacent tent, wondering if Leliana would be there. To her disappointment, she wasn’t. Probably in the Chantry then.

 

“I’m Emily, and this is my cousin Renée.” Emily gestured back at her. “Our families... perished in the accident at the Conclave. We were on our way to join them… we don’t have anywhere to go, but we can work.”

 

“Either of you fight?” From the look on the Quartermaster’s face, she already knew the answer.

 

“No.”

 

“Figured as much. What can you do?”

 

“Well, I was studying astronomy before I came here and have a lot of knowledge of stars and things. I can read and write.”

 

“Alright. And you?” Threnn looked at Renée.

 

“I was a student painter, but I have no supplies, and I doubt you have need of something like that. I speak Orlesian, and can read and write as well.”

 

“Anything else?” When they shook their heads, Threnn wrote something down and then waved a hand at them.

 

“Alright, we’ll figure out what to do with you and get back to you after supper. Go talk to my associate Rinna over there and she’ll figure out where to put you up.” She indicated an elven woman with long dark hair standing outside a nearby cabin chatting with a couple of other elves.

 

“Thank you.”

 

“Welcome to the Inquisition.”

 

They approached the elven woman, Rinna, who led them to a small cabin - so tiny it was more of a shanty really, which was to be where they would stay. It wasn’t much, but it wasn’t a tent, so Renée decided to count herself lucky. Two small cots were pushed up against the walls, and a little wooden table, mirror, two chest-like trunks, a broom, and bucket were the only other furniture to be had. Swallowing hard, Renée forced herself to smile and thank Rinna, who nodded and then left them to it, telling them where to look for their posted jobs after supper.

 

Once she was gone, the door closed after her, Renée turned to Emily.

 

“Well, looks like this is going to be our home sweet home for a while.”

 

“It’s a bit barebones, but it’s got a bit of a… rustic charm to it, I think.”

 

Renée scoffed. “That’s one way to put it.”

 

She bent down to open the trunk under one of the beds, and was pleased to find a lock, as well as a key inside, albeit both were incredibly rusty. She placed her things inside, not about to trust her stuff not to get stolen despite the generally altruistic goal of the Inquisition - if someone like Blackwall could get in, there was no telling what kind of other characters might be here and whether or not they had slippery fingers. After locking it up to her satisfaction and pushing it underneath the cot, Renée stood back up and grimaced at her rust covered hands. Gross.

 

She went outside and got a handful of snow which she proceeded to try and use to wash her hands, due to the fact that she highly doubted medieval age privies had a sink, or even anything remotely like it with which to wash one’s hands. Maybe in the bathhouse… except that was in Skyhold, not Haven.

 

She sighed, preparing herself for the inevitable impending lack of hygiene, and brushed off her now wet cold - but mostly clean! - hands on her pants, and went back inside.

 

After a couple hours of thoroughly cleaning the cabin - wood floor had been swept to nary a particle of dirt - and some more discussion of their game plan, the Chantry bells tolled six in the evening. Rinna had come by earlier with a couple of Inquisition uniforms, as well as a couple blankets and a large casket of water. Renée and Emily had been prepared with some questions for her, and found out that they didn’t need coin to get meals at the tavern, just their name and their inquisition badge. The money was kept track of and deducted from their next pay. They also found out that there were, actually, bathrooms (or the Thedas equivalent) in the Chantry that had no toilets, showers, or bath, but had something like a sink as well as a place to refill their water that had two spouts: one cold, and one hot that was heated by a rune. The “plumbing” was dwarven, of course.

 

Renée turned to Emily. “Wanna go discover what Dragon Age food is like?”

 

“Yeah… I’m pretty hungry. I haven’t had anything to eat since before we got here.”

 

“Me too. Adrenaline and nerves kept it at bay for a while, but I can safely say I’m famished now.”

 

“I just hope I’m not allergic to anything…”

 

Renée blanched. “Oh. Yeah. I hadn’t thought of that.”

 

She herself didn’t have any food allergies, so she’d never really had to consider food like that before eating.

 

They left the cabin, trudging through the snow to the Tavern.

 

Thankfully, they both managed to not die from the rye bread and rabbit stew being served that night, and Renée had gotten a kick out of seeing Flissa in the flesh, as well as listen to one of Maryden’s ballads in person. Most notably though, was the variety of people there in the Tavern.

 

Humans, elves, qunari, and dwarves. She tried not to stare, but seeing the different races in person was so much different than on a computer screen. Though most everybody spoke in english - well, common, she also heard orlesian, antivan, and some other language she didn’t recognize. As she slowly savored her cherry tart (she hadn’t been able to help herself, after having the most stressful day of her entire life up until that point, she wasn’t strong enough to turn down comfort food) her gaze slid by a table with a dwarf talking with a tall human man. Her eyes about bugged out of her head. She elbowed Emily in the side.

 

“Emily! Emily look!”

 

“What?”

 

“Over there.” She subtly tilted her head toward the table in question.

 

Emily gasped.

 

“Is that who I think it is?” Her friend whispered excitedly.

 

The dwarf in question laughed, and leaned forward against the table, giving the two of them a clearer view - and there was no question about it. There, no more than fifteen feet in front of them, sat Varric Tethras.

“Oh my goose oh my goose oh my goose!” Renée whisper-squealed. He looked exactly like he had in game - wearing the very same deep red and gold chest hair-bearing tunic.

 

“Of all the things that have sucked since coming here, I kind of forgot that we were going to have the pleasure of meeting some of my favorite characters.” She smiled, a bit of ease returning to her heart as she remembered how friendly he was and how kind he was to people. Maybe their days wouldn’t be all doom and gloom with people like him around.

 

“Think I could get his autograph?” Emily whispered seriously.

 

Renée raised her eyebrow at her friend. “Wow, fangirl much? I don’t think they do autographs in Thedas.”

 

“Wh-hey!” Emily spluttered. “I’m a big fan, that’s all. Big respect for a fellow author, especially one so accomplished as him.”

 

“Uh huh, sure.” Renée said teasingly, taking another languid bite of her tart and turning back to watch Varric some more.

 

She was not expecting him to be looking at her. She startled, her fork slipping out of her grip to clatter loudly on her plate, splattering her cheek and mouth with cherry juice. She grimaced, doing her best to banish the embarrassed flush she felt rushing upward and tried to nonchalantly wipe off the juice.

 

“Renée, he’s coming over here!” Emily hissed between her teeth, sounding equal parts scared and excited.

 

_What? Noo… Fuck. He totally caught me looking at him. Ahh this is so embarrassing._

 

“Couldn’t help but notice you two ladies staring impassionedly at me. As much as I’d like to think I’ve still got it, I’m going to hazard a guess here and say you two are fans.” Varric said as he slid casually into the booth across from them, mouth quirked upward in a knowing smirk.

 

Emily seemed too shocked into awed silence at hearing Varric’s voice in person, so Renée recovered from her embarrassment and cleared her throat.

 

“I’m not sure what you’re talking about, Ser.”

 

“Oh really? In that case, allow me to introduce myself. I’m Varric Tethras. Storyteller, and sometimes a crossbow and arrow to the Inquisition. Several arrows, usually.”

 

“I’m Renée, and this is-”

 

“-Emily! Um. I’m Emily. It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’ve read your work. I’m a big fan.”

 

Renée threw a betrayed look at her friend, but Emily just smiled sheepishly back. Guess she really did want that autograph.

 

“Pleasure’s all mine, I love meeting fans. So, Cherry, if _you_ don’t know who I am, what have I done to capture your interest?”

 

“Cherry?”

 

Varric gestured at her tart with a grin. Renée had to grit her teeth to one again resist the urge to flush with embarrassment. Great. So she’d earned a Varric Nickname ™ from a moment she would have rather liked to forget.

 

“...Not a lot of dwarves where I come from.” She said finally.

 

“Oh? Where are you two from?”

 

Panic immediately washed over like a bucket of cold water. Shoot, not even a day into the gig, and she’d already slipped up. She’d really been hoping to avoid this question for as long as possible.

 

“Far.” She answered, doing her best to keep her voice level. She needed to change the subject. “Hey Emily, didn’t you want an autograph from Ser Tethras here?”

 

The knot in her chest loosened as Varric immediately took the bait, chuckling and teasing her friend and extravagantly penning an autograph for her despite her embarrassed denial.

 

Thankfully, Varric had left shortly after that, citing some business elsewhere he needed to tend to, departing with a jaunty gesture that reminded Renée of a guy tipping his hat. Despite how awkwardly she’d botched the conversation, she was happy they’d gotten to meet him. It seemed they’d made their first friend in Thedas.

 

They went to the job board after that - turns out they had both been assigned to work in the Chantry library. Emily was to help with pushing paperwork, as well as some messenger duties. Renée on the other hand, was to help with translating orlesian texts into common, as well as serve as a translator in a conversation when called upon.

 

Renée was incredibly relieved that they’d somehow managed to avoid becoming combatants of any kind, and had managed to somehow stay out of both the kitchen and the cleaning staff. She assumed it had to do with their physical appearance - it was pretty clear that by this world’s standards, they’d lived the comfortable lives of well-protected nobles. Perhaps that had made their claims to education more viable. Not to mention they were both human, and neither mages.

They were to report to work tomorrow morning, the names of their superiors written next to them on the small grid.

 

The two made their way back to their cabin in the dark, snow crunching beneath their heels and their breath billowed out in front of them in the chill air. It was no small relief to open the door to a safe, warm, and thanks to their earlier efforts _clean_ place with a bed.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I realize that I said "today or tomorrow" and it's like 2 weeks later BUT I have chapter 3 AND part of chapter 4 written, so once ExAstrisScientia finishes her part of chapter 3 I'll post that one too so you might get two in one day. >:D Yee.


	3. First Into the Fade

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Renée has a fun first time in the Fade. Validation and sappiness abounds.

 

 

 

Renée quickly changed into a long cotton night shirt and collapsed heavily onto the bed - a cot really, but she wasn’t complaining. Her hips were sore from walking around and standing all day. She was really going to have a bit of a rough time until she got adjusted to this world. She snuggled into the blankets, drawing them closely around her, and once satisfied with the sensation of safety their weight provided, she easily fell into a deep sleep.

 

She wasn’t sure when it happened, but eventually she slowly became conscious of surroundings. Opening her eyes, she frowned, confused as the haze around her shifted into different things - a wood floor, a bookshelf, a desk and pencil, a window, with an almost lag-like quality. Confused, she looked up to try and get a sense of where she was, and instead of the ceiling she was expecting, there was instead a grey murky haze, almost like a sky, but not quite, leaving her to wonder if she was in a large building with a domed roof of some kind.

 

It was incredibly disorienting… or it should be, but for some reason it had a weird quality of being completely natural. Puzzled, she stood and started walking forward, intent on finding the edge and seeing what she was in. It was apparent, however, after a few minutes of walking, that she was getting no closer to the edge, but a baffled glance at the bookshelf several feet away confirmed that she was moving in space. 

 

“What the…” She stared at the items that had appeared upon her arrival. The last thing she remembered before here was… sleeping. 

 

Realization dawned on her and she slapped her forehead for her slowness. 

 

_ Duh, I’m in the Fade! _

 

“Well, this is definitely weird. But it’s probably a good thing that I’m here, but less of a good thing that I’m conscious of it.” This meant she was a dreamer, probably. Considering that she wasn’t even a mage.

 

_ Speaking of mages and the Fade, I think I need to protect myself here. But how? _

 

Renée drew upon her memory of what people had said in game about the Fade. Things here were made by spirits, and by mages and dreamers creating things with their imagination through their force of will. Things here weren’t ever real, but if whoever created believed it was, it was. Here, at least. 

 

She furrowed her brow and raised a finger to her lips as she thought. 

 

_I’m not alone in here. There are spirits, demons, and other dreamers, though rare… considering we have one nearby, I need to keep them out somehow._ _I can’t risk my knowledge and identity - nor Emily’s - be discovered, especially by something or someone with malicious intent. It’s probably a really good thing that I’m lucid in here. Who knows what secrets my unconscious mind would otherwise reveal…_

 

She put her hands on her hips and looked back up at the murky haze of a “sky.” 

 

_ Guess I’ll start out simple then. _

 

She closed her eyes and imagined herself in a large open field, a clear summer sun with fluffy white clouds casting rays about her, and a brook of clear water. 

 

_ I am in a field. The sun is above me. I can feel it’s warmth on my skin... _

 

No sooner had she thought of these things than she immediately felt a warmth tingle on her skin and the inside of her eyelids turn yellow with light. She opened her eyes and eyed her surroundings with awe.

 

She was in the field! She looked up at sky and it was blue, and the sun shone brightly through big puffy white clouds. But they weren’t moving… she squinted at them, recalling how the wind moved clouds, and immediately they began to move.

 

“H-holy crap!” She laughed in surprised delight. She’d actually  _ made _ a sky! “This is…”

 

She couldn’t think of the words. If she could do this so easily, what else could she do?

 

She trailed a hand through the tall grass, and imagined them rustling in a light breeze. They did so. She grinned and thought they should have wild flowers in them too. And they did.

 

_ This is incredible! Even though I’ve been kind of in the Fade a few times while playing the games, and I knew this was possible here through the Inquisitor’s conversations with Solas, I never really realized just how mind blowing this place is! Anything is possible here. Anything… _

 

With a giddy laugh, she drew in a deep breath and then theatrically raised her arms. Two towers of cobblestone rose around her at the motion. She wiggled her fingers, and a large arched entryway replaced the stones at the base. She flicked her wrist, and stairs cascaded out of the sides, spiraling up to the top. She ran into the structure on her right, and looking up at her creation, decided there ought to be books in her tower. And there were. 

 

Some time passed - an hour, several hours, it was impossible to tell in here - spent creating, and finally Renée took a step back and gazed admirably on her work. She’d changed the two towers to a polished white quartz instead, and large wooden posts on either side hung a banner of red, gold, and white depicting an angel’s wings. Golden lights perched intermittently on lamplike metal posts that made the towers glow from within. In between the two towers lay a garden full of flowers, fruit trees, and a white trellis and tiny white picket fence surrounded a vegetable garden. 

 

She wished for wings, to fly and get a better view of what she had made. And, to her astonishment, she had wings. 

 

She gazed at them in awe, despite the magnitude of her creations so far, this truly shocked her. 

 

_ Not only real things... make believe, magic, fairy tale things can be a reality here too.  _

 

She imagined the wings beating powerfully and lifting her into the air.

 

And immediately yelped as they did, and though she felt gravity pulling her down, the strong wings -  _ her _ strong wings carried her as far up into the air as she wanted. She hovered above her place, and as she regarded everything she’d made, a wash of pleasure so strong gripped her chest that she couldn’t help but begin to cry.

 

Look at what she had made. For years she’d struggled with feelings of inadequacy, not having the skill to make the art she saw in her mind with her hands. Of never being the best at the things she was good at, that she loved, be it art, video games, academic studies. She wanted to be the favorite of all her friends. She’d come to crave glory. If she wasn’t the best, what was she good for? If she wasn’t ranked #1, then what did she matter? If she wasn’t the favorite of all of her friends, or desperately being pined after by a boy, then she wasn’t good enough. But look at this! Look at what she had made.

 

She had the power to make anything she could think of here.  _ Anything _ . 

 

It was there, several feet in the air, elated tears running down her cheeks, that she caught notice of something glowing in her peripheral vision. Whirling midair in surprise, she saw several brightly colored bobbing… wisps, which seemed to be timidly approaching her space. 

 

_ Oh right. Wisps. These are spirits of the Fade. I… probably attracted them with my… renovation spree.  _

 

“Right, I forgot that the Fade has other things in it too. Time to put up some protection.” She flushed sheepishly, having meant to do that first. 

 

_ But how to do that? I don’t really know how Solas made wards. Or how Mages at the tower protected themselves… but I guess going by the general rules of this place, if I will a barrier into being strong enough, I should be able to make one that works. Probably. _

 

She landed on the ground in front of her place, the wings dissipating behind her, and stood still, thinking about a barrier in her mind.

 

_ It’s blue.  _  She thought.  _ Transparent with interlocked hexagons across the surface. Like the ones in sci-fi movies. It’s shaped like a dome. I can walk through it, but it becomes solid when others I don’t want try to. Nobody can come through my barrier unless I let them. Nobody can come through my barrier. Nobody can see clearly through my barrier, but I can see out crystal clear.  _

 

She took a deep breath and raised her arms up high, imagining a burst of blue shooting out of her body and into the air and spreading out into a dome. 

 

She opened her eyes and saw she was surrounded by a blue dome. She had a moment to feel relieved, before a strange vertigo overcame her. She stumbled to her knees and blinked fast, trying to regain her senses. The feeling abated after a minute, and she stood back up.

 

Dusting off her knees, she turned to regard the wisps instead, who were still there, bobbing up and down and floating around her barrier. They seemed to almost be curious in their observation, and as she drew closer she noticed how they pulsed and almost vibrated when they encountered something that excited them. 

 

_ The first of the Maker’s children. I’m pretty sure wisps aren’t harmful, according to what I read in the codex and what Solas and other people said in the game about them. When the Inquisitor walks through the Fade physically she encounters some I think, and they don’t harm her.  _

 

Maybe it would be fine to let them in. She took a careful step through her barrier, right next to where they were floating. They quivered and tentatively approached her, and as one hovered in front of her, she felt a peculiar sensation emanating from it. It felt like… curiosity. Like she felt when she went to a new place for the first time, ate a new kind of food, and like a new book all at the same time. 

 

“Wow. Hello?” She was pretty sure that wisps couldn’t talk, that they weren’t developed enough for that, but she wasn’t about to make the mistake of assuming something was the same as in game and then meet her untimely end for it. 

 

The wisp made no replying sound, but bobbed faster and glowed brighter. 

 

_ Huh. How interesting. _

 

“Um… why are you here?”

 

The wisp didn’t reply. It just kept bobbing.

 

“Hmm, maybe a why question is too complicated.” Maybe a yes or no would be better. 

 

“You want to see what I made?”

 

All of the wisps around her lit up like Christmas lights and began spastically bobbing.

 

Her eyes bugged for a moment. 

 

“Uhhh _okay_ , I’m going to take that as a yes.” 

 

She regarded them for another moment, tempted to let them in but cautious yet. This was her first time in the Fade, and she really didn't want to make the mistake of letting in something that could hurt her, or worse, end up in her body being possessed. She really liked having full control of her own body. And also living.

 

“You guys aren’t going to hurt me, right?”

 

As if on queue, all the wisps immediately stopped glowing. 

 

She couldn’t help but laugh.

 

“Okay! I guess that makes sense, considering if I didn’t exist, neither would what I just made. I think. Well then… I’ll let you in. But, uh, I don’t know if you guys can communicate but… anyways, keep my place a secret.”

 

She imagined a small hole appearing in her barrier and slowly expanding to make room for the wisps to go through. One did, and the wisps lit up again and swirled around her in a circle twice before zooming through the hole.

 

Giggling, she stepped in after them, closing the hole behind her. As they spread out and began investigation her towers, she cocked her head to the side and looked at the ground in front of her barrier.

 

A large wooden sign reading “No Trespassers Allowed” appeared, proudly jutting from the ground.

 

Renée smiled, pleased with herself, and then made back to her towers.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for the delay. Chapter 4 coming soon.   
> Also, please forgive Renée for being a huge dork and going wild with the Fade. She can't help it after endless hours of playing Minecraft on creative... it's in her blood. Took a little bit of creative liberties here in terms of stretching the boundaries but I'd say I'm within the realm of possible canon for the Fade. :) And, after all, if Solas can appear as a wolf in the Fade, who's to say you can't imagine yourself having wings? As cringy as that might be. :joy: LOL It is the land of dreams.


	4. Oh No, the Fade!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Emily is shooting star meme style yeeted into the Fade as well, and somehow manages to be even more of a nerd there than in the real world.

 

 

Emily woke up to the strange feeling of everything being completely normal.

It was always that way for her in her dreams, as she assumed it was for everyone else. Things that would otherwise seem bizarre and crazy were nothing out of the ordinary. So when she awoke in her cabin in Haven instead of her normal bed back on Earth, she didn’t question it. Instead, she slipped out of bed – careful not to disturb Renée – and out of the cabin, into the cold. For some reason, she didn’t feel cold… at all.

Where hadn’t she been yet? The library, right. She began to walk in its direction. She had no idea where it was, but her feet seemed to know just where to take her.

Sure enough, she reached the library without issue. Normally, books weren’t her thing – she much preferred to write her own fictional stories than to read them – but astronomy books were always the exception. If she found one, good luck prying her away. So, naturally, Emily headed straight for the astronomy section. She was almost afraid that there wouldn’t be one. Was astronomy a recognized field of study in Thedas? She couldn’t remember from the game.

Finally, she found it. Nestled between the sections on Orlesian social customs and various Thedosian languages was a small section about space. She grabbed the first book she saw and flung it open.

Hmm. A book about constellations. She’d never been fond of studying constellations – she preferred to know about the compositions of the stars themselves rather than the shapes that people thought they made – but this would be a good place to start.

To start. Yes, she was starting all over. This was Thedas, not Earth, and her years of studying astrophysics would only get her so far here. What was the same? Gravity, perhaps. It didn’t feel any different than Earth’s, at least, but she wasn’t sure she had the equipment necessary to measure the gravitational constant on this planet. The sun. They seemed to have the same type of star as Earth’s, though it was probably not quite the same size. What was different? Everything else. She wasn’t sure if the same laws of quantum physics applied here, considering this was a land where magic was real and there was a giant breach in the sky. And this planet had two moons. Two. What havoc would that wreak on the tidal forces?

As her head spun with questions – and, admittedly, excitement at having so much more to learn – the relative silence of the library was interrupted by a whisper.

Emily blinked. “Ah, excuse me? Hello?” She looked around, and saw no one, so she turned back to her book.

A wisp-like figure hovered there, and the whisper – no, whispers, they were all overlapping – intensified. She couldn’t make them out. The figure reached toward her, and began to pull her… into the book.

Emily sighed and closed her eyes, more irritated than afraid. She was expecting a repeat of the incident that had brought her to Thedas in the first place. Maybe this would even bring her back to Earth! She would be just fine with that. This time, there was no unconsciousness, no feeling of having the wind knocked out of her. She opened her eyes.

She was in space. And moving through it.

At that moment it hit her that this was a dream. But she remembered the Fade, and that it could tell her things about waking life in Thedas that she wouldn’t have otherwise known. She quickly shoved the knowledge to the back of her mind – because if this was like any of her other dreams, she’d wake up the moment she truly acknowledged that she was dreaming – and tried to go on pretending that she thought this was real.

“Please help me understand,” Emily said. She was surprised to note that she could still hear the words she spoke. Even in space. Where sound has nothing to travel through, and should not be able to be heard. Granted, she was also breathing just fine, and still alive despite not having any protective gear. And this was a dream – no, she wasn’t going to think about that. She wanted to understand.

The whispers grew louder and coalesced into something comprehensible. Emily’s movement slowly stopped as she drew near to a constellation.

_“Owing primarily to the popular Orlesian tale of the same name, the constellation Eluvia is commonly referred to as "Sacrifice." During the Glory Age, folklore told of a young woman saved from a lustful mage by being sent into the sky by her father—after which the mage killed him, hence the sacrifice. The daughter became the constellation, depicted as a seated woman with her head in the clouds. Prior to this tale, Eluvia was thought to represent Razikale, the Tevinter Old God of mystery, and the constellation was the source of many superstitions involving the granting of wishes.”_

Emily blinked. It had been ages since she’d played the game. Wasn’t this one of the codex entries, though?

Before she could think too much about it, she was whisked away again. She watched the various stars as she passed them by. Were any of them binary? Trinary? Were they different colors; different temperatures? Were there obvious differences in radius? Was this the same – or a similar – universe to that of Earth?

She stopped at another constellation, and the whispers returned, again coherent.

_“Referred to as "Voyager" in common parlance, the constellation Peraquialus is commonly depicted as a ship—no ordinary ship, but rather the primitive vessels sailed by ancient peoples such as the Neromenians. The translation from Ancient Tevene is usually "across the sea," and lends credence to the idea that the Neromenians came to Thedas from elsewhere, although most reputable scholars dispute this, especially considering those ancient peoples would likely to have named these stars long before they undertook such a voyage.”_

Emily frowned. This was all good information, but she assumed she’d find it just by looking in the book. She needed to know more than just this; it wasn’t enough…

She woke up. Still in Haven, unfortunately, and not in her regular home on Earth. But that wasn’t important at the moment.

Throwing aside her blankets and slipping on some shoes, she exited as quickly as she could without making noise that would disturb Renée, and then ran as fast as she could. The cold this time was real and pierced her with a sharp chill, but she ignored it as best she could, gritting her teeth and trying not to notice the locks of frizzy hair whipping incessantly at her face.

She followed the same steps she’d taken in the Fade, and sure enough, it lead her to the library. She barreled inside, shivering and clinging to herself as she rushed to the astronomy section. The librarian gave her only a passing glance – apparently, it wasn’t uncommon for people to come barging in in the middle of the night looking for books.

Emily pulled out the first book on the shelf. The same one as in the Fade. She caught the title this time – _A Study of Thedosian Astronomy_. Hope grew within her as she showed her badge to the librarian and checked the book out, rushing back to her room as fast as she had to the library. Even if it didn’t answer all her questions now, at least it would be a place to start. Astronomy was obviously an established field of study in Thedas, so she wouldn’t have to start completely from scratch.

She slipped inside, closing the door quietly and sneaking back into bed, all the while looking over at Renée to make sure she hadn’t awoken. She was sound asleep – probably dreaming as well, she realized.

Emily glanced the book over, but could make out no words in the low light. The room was illuminated only by the faint glow of the snow through the windows, and while that definitely made it brighter, it was nowhere near enough to read by. Without the luxury of electricity – and considering that she probably wouldn’t be able to light a candle without waking Renée up – she decided to wait until the morning.

She placed the book next to her and dozed off. This time, her sleep was dreamless.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter brought to you by ExAstrisScientia! Chapter 5 coming soon.

**Author's Note:**

> My first ever REAL fic!! This idea has been in Emily and my head's for a long time, more than a year, plenty of extensive outlining has happened but no writing... and for some reason we just now decided to actually start writing it, LOL. After most of the fandom has moved on. Yeah. SOKAY DA4 hype might bring some people our way. Hopefully. If not, it's okay we'll just scream our cringey fic into the void! :D
> 
> Anyways I hope you guys like it! Chapter 2 coming soon, either today or tomorrow.


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